


Ripple

by SomnificSheep



Series: Every Day I'm Tumblin' [12]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gangs, Guns, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Referenced violence, lawyer!Konan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22480207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomnificSheep/pseuds/SomnificSheep
Summary: “Who’s there?” she asks, pretending her voice doesn’t crack and her fingers don’t shake.“Neighbor,” comes the gravelly reply. “Are you okay?”
Relationships: Kakuzu/Konan (Naruto)
Series: Every Day I'm Tumblin' [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1441588
Kudos: 9





	Ripple

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "the power goes out in our apartment building but I'm not prepared for this, and you come to check on me:

It’s a very rare day Konan has time for indulgences. She keeps a rigid schedule of full courtrooms, research, and networking, and by the time her tasks are all finished, the only thing she wants to do is lay down so she’s awake enough to do it again in the morning. Rarer still are the days she’s able to put her electronics away and let the world slip to the wayside, but today…

Wind howls outside, low and mournful as it kicks snow and ice against the windows. The Ootsutsuki matriarch has been put away after months of fighting, the world is in the lull between Christmas and New Year, and she is doing her best to not consider the fact that it’s likely, at this very moment, someone’s been sent to dispatch her. She knew it was possible when she took on the case and was more than willing to endure the risks. 

That doesn’t mean it’s easy to feel like a sitting duck.

Water ripples as she sinks down in the bath and puts her hands over her face to cover a low sigh. The candlelight flickering over the walls is at once calming and anxiety-inducing, on one hand cheerful and on the other casting long shadows across the surface. The warmth is more than welcome, as is the soft scent of lavender before her head dips below the water. 

Being enveloped like this is soothing, even as her lungs burn and her blood whooshes loud through her head. Every second is long, longer than they have any right to be, and the splash when she surfaces is a roar until that quiets along with everything but her breathing. She’d call it the quiet before the storm, if the storm wasn’t still raging outside, because it’s an eerily silent quiet.

Too quiet for comfort.

Her skin prickles with anxiety now instead of heat, the feeling of a thousand unseen gazes gathering at the base of her neck and spreading outward with icy fingers of dread. 

Still too quiet, and _dark,_ even with the candles.

There’s no power.

The dread increases until she’s absolutely crawling with it, too keyed up to enjoy the warmth and comfort without worrying there’ll be a bullet in her head at any second. She stumbles out of the tub, unplugs the drain, and blows out the candle–a mistake, now it’s pitch black–before stumbling through the hallway and into her room. 

She can’t remember where any of her flashlights are, or if they’re packed in any of the boxes Nagato has been helping her with over the last two weeks. Moving during the middle of winter and the busy season wasn’t her choice, but the surrounding authorities thought it pertinent.

She can’t completely disagree, not after seeing the evidence of what the family does to do the people who displease them. 

Her foot catches in her sweatpants as she pulls them on, nearly putting her on the floor as she struggles in the dark. Her sweatshirt goes on hard as well, arms tangled and wet hair catching in the hood before she yanks it down with a growl. The silence somehow grows to a booming crescendo that has her sitting on the bed with her hands over her ears before it’s shattered by a simple sound–a knock on the door.

She hasn’t had much use for the gun in her dresser drawer before now, but she takes it out and loads it before padding into the hallway. Whoever it is knocks again and she’s unwilling to answer as she makes her way to the door. She perhaps should have realized she wouldn’t be able to see who’s in the hallway, though, and all she sees is a faint flicker of light in the blackness.

“Who’s there?” she asks, pretending her voice doesn’t crack and her fingers don’t shake. 

“Neighbor,” comes the gravelly reply. “Are you okay?”

“Why are you here?” she counters. 

The light moves closer to the peephole and she gasps as a twisted, knotted half-smile appears. She sees his lips moving but can hear nothing, too distracted by the scars ripping across the man’s face.

“Hey,” she hears eventually. “I asked if you needed anything.”

“For you to leave,” she says. Then, “Please.”

“Have it your way,” he says. “Figured you might want company, especially now after the trial.”

Konan slowly lowers the weapon and takes a step closer to the door. “What about it?”

“I’ve had my own dealings with them. I know. But you’re obviously not in the mood, so–”

“Wait.” She cracks the door open to see wild hair pouring out from a hood, deep black circles under his eyes where the candlelight doesn’t reach. “Is that–” Gesturing to her face, she keeps the gun hidden behind the door. “This?”

He nods solemnly before turning away again. “Didn’t mean to scare you. Just figured you’d be worrying, maybe in need of supplies. Young woman alone and all.”

“Are you calling me stupid?”

“I’m making an offer,” he says. “Take it or leave it, but I’m going back to my apartment in five…four…three…”

Konan scoffs and lets a bit of tension bleed from her stance, leaning almost casually against the wall as the man looks at her from the corner of his eyes. “What’s your offer, then?”

“Flashlight, if you need one. Some food and company if you’d like more than that. Maybe we could swap stories about the shit we’ve seen,” he rumbles. “Or not.”

Though still on edge, she opens the door a few inches further and jerks her head down the hall. “Can’t remember where my flashlight ended up. As for company…” She sticks her hand out to shake his once, tells herself tonight’s as good a night to die as any. “Konan.”

“I know who you are,” he says. “Kakuzu.”

“Ah–” Konan smiles and looks down, chewing her lip before pointing across the hall to where his door’s open. “I’d be grateful, but give me a minute?” Wouldn’t do to terrify him with a gun, even if she _is_ leaving soon. She can hide it in the end table.

“Suit yourself,” he says. The candlelight dances on the walls until it disappears behind his door with a click, and Konan breathes a shaky sigh of relief as she shuts herself inside. Metal weighs heavy in her hand–she’s never been fond of the weapon, but its familiar grip is better in her hands than that of another. 

She bangs her shin on the way to the end table to stash the gun, bites her lip against a pained groan before there’s another knock on the door. Carefully avoiding the heavy tote this time, she opens it to see Kakuzu’s face lit up like a skull in the harsh glow of the flashlight. “Welcome back,” she says.

“Wine,” Kakuzu says, holding up the bottle with his other hand. “You looked tense. Not that I wanted to, well, relax you for a purpose. It seems like you’ve got a lot going on, is all.”

Konan grabs the bottle and the flashlight, ushering him ahead and lighting his path as he walks. “You’d know, if you were close with them. Sorry about the mess. I’m leaving soon.”

“Smart.” Kakuzu makes his way to the couch and sits down, spreads his arms across the back as though he’s making himself at home. “But stupid to take the case.”

“Probably stupider yet to invite the mysterious man from next door in,” Konan says. She doesn’t sit, instead making her way to the kitchen and searching for the bottle opener she’s _absolutely positive_ is in the top-most left drawer. There’s no bother with glasses, not tonight. “But here I am, because if you were going to kill me, I can’t imagine I would’ve made it this long.”

Kakuzu chuckles darkly. “You’re right.”

“So…” She turns and leans against the counter, tipping the bottle to her lips as she notes the distance to the knife block, just in case. “What’d they get you for?”

“Guess.”

“Ratting.” When she swings the beam over, he’s grinning. “And it was a warning.”

“Oh?”

“If you’d been privy to any _actual_ secrets, they’d’ve killed you outright.” The wine is pleasant as it slides down her throat, and she waits for confirmation before continuing. “Why’d you do it?”

“Reasons,” he says.

“You’re a man of many words, aren’t you?” She takes a few steps toward him before crossing her arms and aiming the light just to the side of his face. “A little strange, if you ask me.”

“Well, I didn’t,” he says, but gestures to the couch beside him, then the chair adjacent. 

Konan chooses the chair, still a little unsure of his intentions. It’s a precarious balance, this carefully treading the line between wariness and wishing for something more than isolation. She takes another drink and settles her elbows on her knees. “We have the night, Kakuzu, and I’m heading out soon. Tell me about your mysteries? I’m probably the best person around to hear them.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments always read and _very_ much appreciated, and I always do my best to get back to them ❤️
> 
> You can also find me lurking and yelling about fictional characters on:  
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